Dear readers, in this post I will chronicle the fourth day of our D.C. trip. This was the most important day, because I actually did my performance, which was, the whole reason we came!
I began the morning by becoming a 1940s president. Father became a 21st century man with clean teeth.
Father dropped me off, then went to park the car. He came back to see a bunch of people sitting around in the hallway. Although you can’t see it in the picture, Harry was knitting Lord of the Rings mitts.
Most of the time, Harry acted like he normally does.
My mother told me to remember that I have talked to Stalin, so I wasn’t afraid of anyone at History Day. I did my best to put her advice into practice, although I’m not sure if I fully succeeded.
It was satisfying to finally stage my performance, although it feels weird that my Truman project is fully complete. I’ve been working on it since last July, and I’ve been through a lot with Harry. When I began, I knew nothing about his personality. As I set out to understand his motivations to drop the Atomic bomb, I quickly learned that he made the decision, and didn’t have any regrets. This didn’t make any sense to me at all, but I kept diving deeper, until I came to the conclusion that it was his consistent concern for the well being of U.S. soldiers that allowed him to be so matter of fact about the bomb. I felt an “Immense responsibility” to portray Truman like he really was, not how I wanted him to be. This forced me to truly understand (as best as I could) where he was coming from and what his priorities were. Through this project I have learned so much, and I am so grateful to those who made it possible, my parents and the Truman Library Staff.
This is the link to watch my full performance.
After watching several other performances, we went to have lunch at the University of Maryland Dining hall. (I forgot to take off my Truman glasses.)
My father also had a robust lunch.
We rode the Metro into D.C. and got out at the Archives/Navy Memorial station. We didn’t yet realize that the archives was a building you could go into.
We successfully went into the American History museum (unlike on Sunday.) My top priority was to see the First Ladies dresses. I saw them when I was very small and that experience has always stuck with me. We tried to see them last year, but unfortunately the exhibit was closed.
There they were, still there after all these years! Although I didn’t get pictures of all of them, here are a few.
Jill Biden. (with matching mask)
Mamie Eisenhower.
Grace Coolidge.
Rosalynn Carter.
Barbra Bush and Nancy Reagan.
Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.
Hillary Clinton.
Dolly Madison.
Mary Todd Lincoln.
This is the first time we saw the First Lady dresses, in July 2012. We are posing in front of Laura Bush’s dress and I am wearing my stylish George Washington skirt.
Next to the dresses, they had the First Ladies dishes. These were also fun to look at.
This set owned by Lucy Hayes was my favorite.
Although I was disappointed that they didn’t have Bess Truman’s dress, I was glad to see her dishes!
We also went into the presidents section. This is an inauguration banner for Truman, but I thought the image on it didn’t really look like him.
Ike’s uniform.
Microphone used by FDR in his fireside chats.
Cast of Lincoln’s hands. Apparently he had to hold a broom handle while the cast was being made because his had was swollen from shaking hands with supporters. I had heard about this before and it was fun to see it in person. I think it’s a common piece of presidential trivia.
The presidential seal!
Key to the White House owned by Harry Truman.
Bowling pin used by Truman. (I prioritized taking pictures of Truman related artifacts.)
Hat worn by Lincoln on the night he was assassinated. We had seen one of his other hats in Springfield Ill, but this one felt extra special.
We briefly visited the “Americans at War” section. I really liked this little display.
We went into the pop culture section. I wanted to see the Wizard of Oz shoes since they are so heavily advertised by the Smithsonian and I felt like you kinda had to go see them. But, I have never been a fan of these shoes because in the original Wizard of Oz book by L. Frank Baum, Dorthy’s shoes are silver. I am a staunch literary purist, so when I dressed up as Dorthy several years ago I made sure to have the correct color of shoes.
My father poses with the robots from Star Wars.
Next we visited the inventions section. This is Thomas Edison’s light bulb and a creepy talking doll that he made.
An early sewing machine!
Father was very interested in the computer exhibits.
We stayed at the museum until around five o’clock because it was so much fun. Eventually we had to leave even though we hadn’t seen everything. As we were leaving, we heard a museum employee yelling “The escalator is not a toy!! Please move away!!” We assume someone was using the escalator for purposes other than switching floors.
As we were going back to the Metro, we saw a concert being set up at the Navy Memorial.
Throughout our trip, I kept trying to get pictures of the Metro. I think this is one of the better ones.
Back at the hotel, our toilet still wouldn’t flush. After several times of asking for the plunger, the hotel manager gave us a plunger to keep in our room and a $100 voucher. Father said he was willing to plunge his own toilet for $100 dollars.
Meanwhile, Kit Kat was sitting on the front porch.
Life of Lydia 
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